Friday, March 11, 2011

Rick’s blog earlier this week about the story he could never write because it involves real people and a real tragedy reminded me (Frankie) of a conversation I had recently -- a much more light-hearted exchange, bur relevant. During lunch with two women that I was meeting for the first time, our conversation turned from day jobs to other activities. One of the women smiled and said she hoped I wouldn’t mind if she asked me a question. With that lead-in, I was bracing myself. What she said was, “As a writer, where do you get your ideas?” Not wanting to monopolize the conversation, I gave her the 25 words or less version. I said, it was a matter of bits and pieces – something catches my attention here, something else there. I carry these random ideas around in my head, I told her, until I find a connection.

She still looked a little puzzled. I could have mentioned reading newspapers, watching old movies, going for walks, taking showers, sitting in malls, listening to conversations in coffee shops, trains, and other public places where nowadays people will talk about bad breakups and jobs in jeopardy and lies told, often on a cell phone.

Or, sometimes, in the middle of my own conversations, I get an idea. I have a friend who introduces me to people at gatherings in her home by telling them that I write mysteries and to be careful what they say because it could end up in one of my books. Actually, the only spoken words I ever use with minimum editing are the fleeting exchanges I overhear between strangers. But my friend is well aware of my bits and pieces approach to writing. I did once ask her daughter-in-law if she would mind if I gave a character the white streak in her baby girl’s dark hair (a genetic trait shared by three generations of women).

And then there was the tree. One summer day, as we were driving up to her family cabin (“camp”) in the Adirondacks, my friend told me this story. She had been standing on the porch of the cabin, admiring an ancient tree by the lake and wondering how long it had been there. The phone rang, and she stepped inside to answer it. A sudden wind storm blew up. When she looked out the window, the tree had been ripped up by its roots. She told me this story with a kind of wonder and a touch of superstition about the power of thoughts. I asked if I could use it in the book I was working on.

The tree in my book was struck by lightning. But my friend still remembers that it was her tree by the edge of a lake in the Adirondacks that inspired my character’s tree in a backyard in Kentucky.

I can talk about it here because I always mention in my acknowledgments the occasional bits and pieces of her life that my friend contributes to my writing. But it is sometimes unsettling to realize that even when you don’t intend to file it away, a joke, a turn of phrase, an observation becomes fodder. It’s even more unsettling to be in the midst of an event in your own life and realize you are thinking about how you can use it – whatever “it” is.

For example, on Tuesday, a day after rain/ snow/sleet, the sun was shining and I was on my way to work. I went into my garage through the side door, put my tote bag in the car, and touched the remote on the wall that should have opened the outer door. Instead, the metal device attached to the outer door ripped off and swung backward, narrowly missing the rear window of my car. Since the rope that was supposed to allow me to open the door manually had been attached to that device, my car was now stuck in the garage.

In a brilliant Sherlockian deduction, I concluded that the garage door must have frozen to the pavement. The next thoughts that flitted through my mind were, “I didn’t know that could happen. What if I had been running for my life, trying to escape a killer and that happened? Would I be able to back the car through the garage door?”

No, I didn’t try to back the car through the door. I didn’t think my insurance companies – home or car -- would appreciate the experiment. And it did occur to me that I still needed to get to work. That meant I should go into the house and find the name of the company that had installed the garage door opener. But this practical response to the situation occurred only after I had paused to file this comic moment in my life away for future use in a much more frightening fictional scenario.

There is something to be said for this writer’s habit. Instead of pacing the floor until the technician arrived to free my car, I went on the Internet to look for posts about frozen garage doors.

But (returning to Rick’s thoughtful comments), I too believe I need to make ethical choices about what I use from my life and the lives of others. My choice is to use only the bits and pieces, to mix and disguise and to ask permission when appropriate. And still, particularly because I study real-life crime, I do now and then worry about becoming an “objective” observer who forgets to feel. My way of resolving this is to try not to create disposable victims in my mysteries and to have my characters ask thought-provoking questions even if neither they nor I can provide the answers.

5 comments:

Love the story of the garage door. I've had that happen and found that if I poured boiling water along the rim of the door it would melt the ice and you can manually lift the door. Don't put the door back down again, or you'll really find it frozen next time.

The garage door was frozen so solid, Vicki,I ended up sprinkling de-icing salt along the edge. The technician was able to get it open. Then he put down more salt. But, yes, I'm hearing hot water -- or, just put a broom handle underneath to keep it from coming down all the way. Or WD-40 along the rubber rim to prevent the freezing in the first place. I'm hoping with temperatures now in the 30s/40s and the snow melting, I might be okay until next winter.

Thanks, Hannah. If not for the bits and the pieces, I would spend a lot of time staring at a blank screen.

Rick Blechta writes on Tuesdays

Barbara Fradkin writes on alternate Wednesdays

Sybil Johnson writes on Alternate Wednesdays

John Corrigan writes on alternate Thursdays

Donis Casey writes on alternate Thursdays

Charlotte Hinger writes on alternate Fridays

Frankie Bailey writes on Alternate Fridays

Vicki Delany writes on the second weekend of every month

Mario Acevedo writes on the 4th Saturday of each month

Aline Templeton

Aline Templeton lives in Edinburgh in a house with a balcony overlooking the beautiful city skyline. Her series featuring DI Marjory Fleming is set in beautiful Galloway, in South-west Scotland. alinetempleton.co.uk

Marianne Wheelaghan

Marianne is from Edinburgh. She left home at seventeen. After a heap of travelling, which included living in Kiribati, the third most remote country in the world, she ended back in Edinburgh where she still lives very happily. Her crime mysteries feature DS Louisa Townsend, The Scottish Lady Detective, and are mostly set in the Pacific. Read more about Marianne and her books on her blog: www.mariannewheelaghan.co.uk and at @MWheelaghan

Rick Blechta

Rick has two passions in life, mysteries and music, and his thrillers contain liberal doses of both. He has two upcoming releases, Roses for a Diva, his sequel to The Fallen One, for Dundurn Press, and for Orca’s Rapid Reads series, The Boom Room, a second book featuring detectives Pratt & Ellis. You can learn more about what he’s up to at www.rickblechta.com. From the musical side, Rick leads a classic soul band in Toronto. Check out SOULidifiedband.com. And lastly, being a former line cook with an interest in all things culinary, he has a blog dedicated to food: A Man for All Seasonings.

Barbara Fradkin

Barbara Fradkin is a retired psychologist with a fascination for how we turn bad. Her dark short stories haunt the Ladies Killing Circle anthologies, but she is best known for her award-winning series featuring the quixotic, exasperating Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green, published by Dundurn Press. The ninth book, The Whisper of Legends, was published in April 2013. Visit Barbara at barbarafradkin.com.

Sybil Johnson

Sybil Johnson’s love affair with reading began in kindergarten with “The Three Little Pigs.” Visits to the library introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a host of other characters. Fast forward to college where she continued reading while studying Computer Science. After a rewarding career in the computer industry, Sybil decided to try her hand at writing mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in Mysterical-E and Spinetingler Magazine, among others. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Southern California where she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages and spending time with friends and family. Find her at www.authorsybiljohnson.com.

John R Corrigan

John R. Corrigan is D.A. Keeley, author of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Peyton Cote series, which is set along the Maine-Canada border. Bitter Crossing (summer 2014) will be the first of at least three novels in the series. Born in Augusta, Maine, he lives with his wife and three daughters at Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts, where he is English department chair, a teacher, a hockey coach, and may very well be the only mystery writer in North America who also serves as a dorm parent to 50 teenage girls. A Mainer through and through, he tries to get to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, as often as possible. You can see what he's up to by visiting www.amazon.com/author/DAKeeley or dakeeleyauthor.blogspot.com or on Twitter (@DAKeeleyAuthor).

Donis Casey

Donis is the author of six Alafair Tucker Mysteries. Her award-winning series, featuring the sleuthing mother of ten children, is set in Oklahoma during the booming 1910s. Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She lives in Tempe, AZ, with her husband, poet Donald Koozer. The latest Alafair Tucker novel, The Wrong Hill to Die On (Poisoned Pen Press, 2012), is available in paper or electronic format wherever books are sold. Readers can enjoy the first chapter of each book on her web site at www.doniscasey.com.

Frankie Bailey

Frankie Y. Bailey is a criminal justice professor who focuses on crime, history, and American culture. Her current project is a book about dress, appearance, and criminal justice. Her mystery series featuring crime historian Lizzie Stuart is set mainly in the South. Her near-future police procedural series featuring Detective Hannah McCabe is set in Albany, New York. Visit Frankie at frankieybailey.com.

Charlotte Hinger

Charlotte Hinger is a novelist and Western Kansas historian. Convinced that mystery writing and historical investigation go hand in hand, she now applies her MA in history to academic articles and her depraved imagination to the Lottie Albright series for Poisoned Pen Press. charlottehinger.com

Vicki Delany/Eva Gates

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. She is the author of more than 25 books, including the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas cozy series, the Constable Molly Smith books, standalone novels of suspense, the Klondike Gold Rush series, and novellas for adult literacy. As Eva Gates, she is the author of the national bestselling Lighthouse Library cozy series from Penguin. Find Vicki at www.vickidelany.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor/

Mario Acevedo

Mario Acevedo is the author of the Felix Gomez detective-vampire series. His short fiction is included in the anthologies, You Don’t Have A Clue: Latino Mystery Stories for Teens and Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and in Modern Drunkard Magazine. Mario lives with a dog in Denver, CO. His website is marioacevedo.com.